Captain Mary and Sheila Gray win the Renfrewshire County Winter Foursomes

Congratulations go to Captain Mary Hardie and Sheila Gray who won the Renfrewshire County Winter Foursomes Final today in excellent weather conditions at Whitecraigs Golf Course.
Despite the recent heavy rain the course was in remarkable condition.
Last years winners, Roisin Black and June Lockhart of Gleddoch, tried hard to defend the trophy but the The Ranfurly Castle pairing took advantage of their 8 strokes to be two up at the turn.
Roisin and June fought back to be all square after the 17th hole. Going down the 18th Sheila and Mary played steadily to clinch the game.

Mary and Sheila reminded the Gleddoch ladies that they had met in the first round of the Winter Foursomes last year when Roisin and June had beaten them on the 17th green.
They look forward to doing battle once again in the final of the 2008/9 Winter Foursomes Final!
Congratulations to Sheila and Mary. -- Well done and many congratulations from all at Ranfurly Castle

Ladies Social Evening

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We had a very enjoyable evening last night. Marilyn and her assistant Sylvia braved the awful weather and arrived with a most interesting stock of flowers and greenery. Marilyn created six wonderful arrangements while amusing us all with anecdotes of her life as florist at Lomond Castle Golf club. The arrangements were raffled in aid of The Maggie Centers and Vickie Rennie, Rosemary Reedie, Morag Cunningham, Lois Brown, Liz Bowie and Margaret Parrott were the lucky winners.

March Medal

19/3/2008 9 entries SSS 73 CSS 73
Scratch Winner Carol Fell 90
Silver Winner Carol Fell (10) 80
Bronze Winner Mary Irving (21) 75
R/UP Linda MacDougall (36) 75

Mail on Sunday

Ranfurly Castle Ladies played Kilmarnock Barassie Ladies in the Mail on Sunday Competition over the very blustery seaside links yesterday. We all tried our best but were unfortunately beaten 3 games to 2.

Bridge Evening

We held our annual bridge evening on Wednesday 13th February.
There were 17 tables and everyone seemed to enjoy the evening, especially 93 year old Walter McLeod who with his partner Gordon Davidson had a small slam in the first hand.
Vicky Martin won 1st prize Mary Irvine was 2nd and Sheona Barclay 3rd
Thank you to all the committee for a lovely supper.

February - 15 Hole Stableford Competition

Silver: R Ogilvie (17) 27 pts, V Howe (17) 26 pts
Bronze: P Wilson (36) 25 pts, J Dickie (36) 20 pts
(Played Wednesday 6th February 2008)

Handicap Seminar at Haggs Castle

Over 250 representatives (both Men and Women) from Golf Clubs in the West of Scotland attended seminars in the rules and regulations regarding maintaining and administering the new 2008 Unified Handicapping System for 2008.
The seminars were held at East Kilbride Golf Club in January and Haggs Castle Golf Club today and both venues had the comprehensive presentation of the new changes incorporated in the new manual.

Ranfurly Castle ladies Section Representatives that attended the Haggs Castle Meeting today were : Vivien Howe, Elizabeth Jessop and Agnes Williamson . The other Ranfurly Castle ladies there were Fiona Roger, Carol Fell (RLCGA) and Pamela MacKenzie (SLGA)

Thanks go to Lynne Terry (SLGA) and Kevin Weir (SGU) for their excellent presentation

Mary Hardie and Sheila Gray are thro' to the County Winter Foursomes Semi Finals

Congratulations go to Mary and Sheila who have progressed to the semi final stages of the Renfrewshire Ladies County Winter Foursomes. To read all about it go to The RLCGA Website

2008 Greenlees Fixtures

Tuesday 27th May: Troon (Away) 12noon
Tuesday 3rd June: Douglas Park (Home) 12noon
Thursday 26th June: Hilton Park (Away) 12noon
Tuesday 15th July: Prestwick St Nicholas (Home) 12 noon
Tuesday 29th July: Cochrane Castle (Away) 1:00pm
Friday 8th August: Kilmacolm (Home) 12noon
Monday 18th August: Kilmarnock Barassie(Home)12noon
Friday 29th August: Cathkin Braes (Away) 1:00pm

Handicap Seminar at Haggs Castle

The SLGA and SGU are running a series of regional handicapping seminars for all those involved at golf clubs in maintaining and administering handicaps. The seminars will include an overview of the CONGU UHS and a comprehensive presentation of the new changes incorporated in the new manual. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions. For a booking form click here

SLGA AGM - Pamela has one more year in office

The SLGA AGM took place yesterday at the Quality Station Hotel Perth and Carol Fell and Fiona Roger represented Ranfurly Castle at the meeting
SLGA's Chairman Margaret McNaughton's informative annual report was followed by the Finance Director Lynne Terry's detailed accounts annual review.
Ethel Jack was elected as President for the second year and Renfrewshire's Wendy Cameron and Rosemary Dykes were both re elected as one of the 13 Vice Presidents.
RLCGA's Past Captain Beth Paterson (Eastwood) was elected on to the board by the SLGA to replace Margaret MacNaughton who retires by expiry of her term of office.
Past Ranfurly Castle Captain and Renfrewshire Ladies County Captain Pamela MacKenzie is the West Division Representative on the Executive Committee of the SLGA for the 4th year and will retire in January 2009
Various resolutions proposed by the Board of directors were duly proposed and approved by the ladies present representing affiliated clubs,counties and societies.
Mrs Pat Wilson was then elected to be the new Chairman of the SLGA.
Carol Fell asked the board in the "any competent business" section, if County Medals were the same as Open Days for the new Congu regulation. The answer was given as yes and she said that this was impossible to administer unless you used the Home Clubs handicap computer where the competition was being played at and not use the county laptop. The SLGA said they would look into the matter and Carol has sent a report to the SLGA as requested by the new Chairman Pat Wilson. This report includes an explanation of the problem and a couple of suggestions on how to solve the problem

Ladies AGM --- Mary Hardie is our new Captain

A very successful AGM and prizegiving was held in the clubhouse on Thursday 17th January.
Mary Hardie was duly elected as our new Lady Captain. She welcomed Helen Abram as Vice Captain and Sheila Gray, Sheila Biggart and Eileen Walker as new committee members.
The AGM was followed by our usual prizegiving.
Carol Fell, our Ladies Champion, thanked the committee for all their work throughout the year.
Click here to see the Prize Winners List

Natasha Quayam is selected for the RLCGA Training Squad

Congratulations go to Natasha Qayum who has been invited to the Renfrewshire Ladies County Golf Association Winter Training Squad. Click on the following link to see all the members of the squad
Full list of the RLCGA Training Squad

SLGA Annual General Meeting

The SLGA AGM will be held on Saturday 19 January 2008 at 11.00 a.m. in the ballroom of the Quality Station Hotel in Perth. All the papers for the meeting were posted to clubs and counties on Wednesday 19 December.

Happy New Year to Everyone

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Merry Christmas to all our readers

Your Captain Mary Craig, Your Vice Captain Mary Harvie, Your Webmaster Carol Fell and all the committee wish all the ladies fom Ranfurly Castle Golf Club plus all of the Ranfurly Castle members who have read these 2007 golf stories a very Merry Christmas --- Click on the photo below to test your Christmas brain !!

Lauren admits she prefers running to golf

SPANISH ISLANDS GIRLS' CHAMPION
By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Since publishing the story of Lauren Mackin, a 16-year-old Scottish girl living with her parents on the island of Majorca, winning the Spanish Balearic Islands' girls golf championship recently, it has come to light that golf is by no means her No 1 sport.
Lauren has confessed that running is not her main sport at the moment. She really does not have time to play golf!
The amazing thing about Lauren, who did not take up golf until four or five years ago, is that has improved her handicap from seven to four this year despite giving running her top priority
Last year Lauren played in the St Andrews girls’ open quaich (handicap) tournament and lost to Jessica Scott (Wanstead) by one hole in the final. Lauren was conceding nine strokes to her opponent.
Lauren is a member at Son Muntaner golf course, a newer course than its immediate neighbour, the better-known Son Vida. Both are fairly close to Palma, the capital of Majorca.
“I am also a member at Ranfurly Castle Golf Club in Scotland but I have not played there for a while,” said Lauren.
“Sometimes I go over to Scotland to visit family and friends.
“I’m a very sporty girl. I love all sports and challenges. I lay beach volleyball and I’m in the beach volleyball team here in Majorca. During the week I play tennis with my friends and sometimes I play golf.
“But my main sport at the moment is running. I compete nearly every weekend in races and I’m a member of a running team in Majorca.”
Lauren's mother Jennifer summed up her sporting daughter's prowess:
"I hope you don't think we are playing this (winning the Balearics' girls championship) down but we don't want you to think that our daughter is an up and coming golf star. However she is a very good runner and was the national Scottish Under-13 crosscountry champion, Scottish schools crosscountry champion, national 1,500 metres champion and national road champion - all in the same year: 2003 !
"Lauren is still a member of the Giffnock North Athletic Club in Glasgow. When she is in Glasgow she sees golf coach Karyn Burns at Mearns Golf Academy. She has not had many golf lessons and never had any here in Majora where we have been for the past three years. "She is a very fluent Spanish speaker and is now studying German ."
In short, Lauren Mackin is a talented young lady on and off the golf course.

The Christmas Cracker

32 ladies played in the Christmas Cracker yesterday morning in what can only be described as WET !
Alison Robertson and Pamela Mackenzie were the winners of the 9 hole Greensomes and Lois Brown won a prize for having the best hat.
A glass of mulled wine helped to warm everyone up at the end and there was plenty of chat and much hilarity!
To see enlargements of the photos go to Ranfurly Castle Christmas Cracker Winners

Christmas 9 hole Stableford

The Ladies annual Christmas stableford/lunch will be held on Wednesday 12th December.
Ballot between 9.20am and 10.am with coffee available if desired. Lunch will follow at approximately 12.00 for anyone who cannot make the golf.
Christmas spirit is essential! Looking forward to seeing everyone there.
Mary Craig

LAUREN MACKIN IS BALEARIC ISLAND'S GIRLS CHAMPION

16 years old Lauren Mackin who is now living on the island of Majorca with her parents, has won the Spanish Balearic Islands’ girls championship and the No 1 Under-18 ranking for 2007.
The Balearics consist of Majorca (20 golf courses), Menorca (one course), Ibiza (one course), Cabrera and Formentera. The Islands had close on 800,000 inhabitants at the last census.Lauren, picture left from St Andrews Links Trust website, who did not take up golf until four or five years ago, has improved her handicap from seven to four this year.After a good showing in the Ballearic Islands’ women’s championship – she lost out by one shot to experienced Spanish senior player Vicky Pertierra, Lauren came into her own in the girls’ championship last weekend. At Alcanada Golf Club, rated the most difficult of Majorca’s courses, Lauren won the title with rounds of 75 and 77 for 155. She won by five strokes from Luna Sorbon, a highly-rated Spanish girl and the favourite for this title.Last year Lauren played in the St Andrews girls’ open quaich (handicap) tournament and lost to Jessica Scott (Wanstead) by one hole in the final. Lauren was conceding nine strokes to her opponent.Lauren is a member at Son Muntaner golf course, a newer course than its immediate neighbour, the better-known Son Vida. Both are fairly close to Palma, the capital of Majorca.